The universe is signaling where black holes are hiding – with smiley-like bursts of light.
When galaxies collide, their central supermassive black holes are expected to form tightly bound pairs. But these systems are incredibly hard to detect once they get close together, making them one of astronomy’s biggest missing pieces.
Now, scientists think they’ve found a way to spot them using light.
As two black holes orbit each other, their immense gravity bends light from stars behind them. This effect, called gravitational lensing, can briefly amplify the starlight into bright flashes. But unlike a single black hole, a pair creates repeating bursts as they move, almost like a cosmic blinking signal.
These flashes could reveal not just their presence, but their mass and motion as they spiral closer together.
If confirmed, this method could help astronomers find these systems years before future gravitational wave detectors come online.
In other words, some of the darkest objects in the universe may be revealed by the light they bend, not the light they emit.
Read the study:
“Black Holes as Telescopes: Discovering Supermassive Binaries through Quasiperiodic Lensed Starlight.” Physical Review Letters.
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